processing-pdfs
Processes PDF files. Extracts text and tables, fills forms, merges and splits documents, batch-processes files, converts to images, and generates PDFs programmatically. Use when working with .pdf files. Do NOT use for Word documents, spreadsheets, or presentations.
SKILL.md
Full skill instructions
PDF Processing
Essential PDF operations using Python libraries and CLI tools.
Decision Matrix
| Task | Best Tool | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Merge / split / metadata / rotate | pypdf | recipes.md |
| Extract text (layout preserved) | pdfplumber | recipes.md |
| Extract tables | pdfplumber | recipes.md |
| Create new PDF | reportlab | recipes.md |
| Batch CLI ops | qpdf / pdftk | recipes.md |
| OCR scanned PDFs | pytesseract + pdf2image | advanced.md |
| Add watermark / extract images / encrypt | pypdf / pdfimages | advanced.md |
| Fill PDF forms | pdf-lib / pypdf | FORMS.md |
| Advanced pypdfium2 / pdf-lib JS | — | REFERENCE.md |
Quick Start
from pypdf import PdfReader
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
print(f"Pages: {len(reader.pages)}")
text = "".join(page.extract_text() for page in reader.pages)
Workflow
- Identify task — text extraction? table? creation? form? Pick row from matrix above.
- Load reference — recipes.md covers 90% of tasks; advanced.md for OCR / encrypt; FORMS.md for forms.
- Implement — copy-adapt recipe; verify output.
- Validate — open in a viewer or grep extracted text.
Library Selection
| Library | Use for |
|---|---|
| pypdf | Merge, split, metadata, encryption, rotation |
| pdfplumber | Text extraction with layout, tables |
| reportlab | Generate PDFs programmatically |
| pdf2image + pytesseract | OCR scanned documents |
| qpdf / pdftk (CLI) | Batch ops, no Python needed |